[Kevin_Reilly]

Tilden in a walk, at least based on my memory of play at LC 20+ yrs ago and the above photo tour.
- no OB, unless you do some sort of over-the-top snaphook on #5 or an over-the-top-dead-left pull from the tee at #2 if you somehow manage to hit the ball almost dead left.
- drainage much improved in the last few years
- good variety of par 4's....demanding uphill #1, cool short downhill dogleg #2, ski slope downhill #3, short uphill dogleg #9 with blind approach to false front green, elevated tee to left sloping fairway on #10, both drive and approach over barranca/creeks on #12, elevated precision shot on #14 (an insurance company nightmare with the possibility of hitting someone on #13) and another good short hole on # 15.
- three difficult par 3's....as long a set of three holes one could find anywhere (7, 11, 16)

But.....Tilden has a weak set of par 5's (only two on the course...the drive at least on #8 is good).  Bunker and green work to #5 a few years ago was horrible...like putting a garish wing on the back of a old 911.  Tilden is slowwwwwwwwwwwww unless you play early.

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - interesting, I agree with your assessment - Tilden plays tighter and LC has more severe elevation change - but it's for just that reason I tend to prefer LC.  Heck both courses are severe and weird, so I just go for the one more off the deep end.   As for bunkers, you're right, those at Tilden are not only more in quantity but they tend to be better in placement and construction... I just like LC pretty much because it has very few bunkers... it's more unique in that respect.

Interesting too, I have played tournaments at each, had great success at each... these are my types of courses when it comes to competitive play.  I shall have to think about why this might be.

Kevin - again, the reason I prefer LC is pretty much because of all the things you list as advantages for Tilden!  Since neither is really all that great, I just tend to go for the weirder one.  LC just is more fun for me in that respect.  You are selling me on the variety aspect though - Tilden does have more.  But still, LC just seems to be more fun for me.

Lake Chabot - at least when I played - can also be played pretty fast.  I too have had rare fast rounds at Tilden.

TH

ps - I have hit a ball OB on each of 2 and 5 at Tilden.   

[Kevin_Reilly]

ps - I have hit a ball OB on each of 2 and 5 at Tilden.   

I edited my post to take into account that possibility.  After all, if someone can go OB at #1 on TOC, then someone I guess could go OB on #2 at Tilden!

[Tom Huckaby]

ps - I have hit a ball OB on each of 2 and 5 at Tilden.   

I edited my post to take into account that possibility.  After all, if someone can go OB at #1 on TOC, then someone I guess could go OB on #2 at Tilden!

Call me Ian Baker-Huckaby.

Hopefully you can see how it can happen, though.  Over-ambitiously try to cut through/over the left trees... hit one of said trees... get a really bad bounce.

Your point is a good one in any case.  Lake Chabot is OB central; there is very little on Tilden.

For god knows what reason I still prefer Lake Chabot.

 

[Kalen Braley]

Kevin,

You sure are right about Tilden, all my rounds have been very slow!  I don't think its better in a walk though.  Tom certainly makes a good point that LC is very unique from just about anything else you'll play in the area.  So if you're up for loads of quirk, LC provides plenty of it.

I also found Lake Chabot to have the cheapest green fees of anywhere that I played in the bay area.  $23 on the weekend last time I played there, but I suspect thats changed.

Either way, can't go wrong with either of them as they are both fun courses to play!

[TX Golf]

The OB on #2 at Tilden is by noooo means out of play. I say this because I have been OB more than a handful of times. There is a spot in the left trees where a lot of kids (including myself at times) try to hit a high rescue or five wood over, leaving only a flip wedge into the green. Not exactly the smartest move but when just out messing around with the friends it is always something that is fun to try and pull off.

Back to the Chabot and Tilden discussion. I agree with Tom that the severity of Chabot is what makes it fun and interesting to play. However if having to choose between the two regarding a "home course" I would have to go with Tilden. It just seems a little more playable to me. Tilden could also cut back on their watering regime pretty significantly. There hasn't been a drop of rain in the Bay Area for five months and a few of the holes out there were pretty soupy. Its not like it gets very hot in that location either, especially with the fog that usually rolls in.

[Tom Huckaby]

Robert:

I fully agree re which to prefer as a home course - Tilden all the way.  The weirdness at LC would get old after awhile, as would the very difficult walk.  Not that Tilden is an easy one, but it's cake compared to LC.  So good call there.  I was more looking at this in terms of a one-time or infrequent visit; and in that respect I have to stick with LC.  Heck the drive and 2nd shot alone on 18 are worth the price of admission.

TH

[TX Golf]

Tom- I absolutely agree. Hell, it is probably worth the price of admission just to say that you played a par 6.

[Kalen Braley]

Tom and Robert.

Screw you guys, eat sh$% and die, I hate that damn hole! 

Ok, Ok, its probably just me.  But man that hole has always just kicked my ass.  The worst is if you don't hit your 2nd or 3rd all the way to the bottom of that slope then you have a severly downhill lie to a green that is severely uphill from your position.  An almost impossible shot, especially for a mid teens capper like myself.

I must admit, its pretty unique, even if I've never taken anything better than a 7 on it. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen:

I'd venture to guess that more people hate that hole than love it.  Hell it's damn hard NOT to have a severe downhill lie for at least one shot on the hole.  Man it's a ski run more than a golf hole.

But it is unique, that's for sure.  I can't say I love it - but I did look forward to playing it each time.

Interesting, this kinda goes with another thread... but I made a 3 on the hole once... holed out from halfway up the hill by the green.  Does this count as a double-eagle?  I figured it wasn't very legit, because the tees were way up (around 600) and even at the full length, it's so downhill as to not really be a par 6....

Note also I have screwed it up many times as well.  I just tend to remember the good playings.

TH

[TX Golf]

Kalen,

While that hole is usually the highlight of my day when I play there, (nothing like being able to hit the ball 400 yards) you are right. If you don't get to the bottom of the hill the next shot is just brutal. 20% down slope to a green 30 yards above you isn't all that much fun. Notice that we didn't say we actually liked the hole. Tom likes the drive.... and I just think its cool to play a par 6. Maybe we will have to get out there and play it some time.

[Tom Huckaby]

I do enjoy the tee shot.  Depending on what tee one plays from, man one can get one over the rise and going down the hill, and if that happens it is ego-building.  Same goes for whatever shot one hits over the rise, be it a 2nd or 3rd or whatever.. to me it's fun to see a ball roll out 200+ yards just due to gravity.  But yes, whatever shot one has from the side of the hill going back up to the green is a tough one.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

You guys are right, I was only just "mostly" kidding with my last post.

It is a fun hole to play, it just always ended up eating my lunch.

Tom on the card its a double eagle, but can't say its a legit double eagle.  I've had som makeable eagle putts on short par 5's before, but never considered them eagle putts.

[Tim Leahy]

LC is one of my favorites just for all the elevated tees and drop shot drives. Also the view from 15 on a clear day when you can see both the Bay and Golden Gate bridges is spectacular. I love the par 6 18th and the plaque that commemorates a national long driving championship that was held there in the 40's I think that was won by a greenskeeper who used a water hose with a driver head attached and hit it over 400 yds!

[Tom Huckaby]

Concur re my fake albatross.  Still it was fun to write down 3 on the card... and that did earn a skin thank god... no mean feat against the baggers I was playing against.

TH

[Craig Sweet]

Lake Chabot?  Where's the lake? Why no views of the lake?  Otherwise, the course looks like terrific, sadistic, fun!

[Kalen Braley]

I think you can see the lake from 16 green If I'm not mistaken as well as #8 fairway.

But if you play the executive 9 holer, you have lots of views of the lake!! 

[TX Golf]

Who thought that I would currently be posting the 42nd post on a Lake Chabot thread.

[Tom Huckaby]

Who thought that I would currently be posting the 42nd post on a Lake Chabot thread.

I am pretty darn impressed with this also.  But you know... this is on unique golf course.  If more saw it it could be the source of many posts....

And yeah, one can see the Lake - I think mainly from the back of 8 green.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

Who thought that I would currently be posting the 42nd post on a Lake Chabot thread.

Hell yeah Robert,

Its a fun course, lots of unusual shots, sidehill, downhill, uphill, you name it. Has the eye candy with #15, the nice chasm tee shot on #16...gawd I love that hole.

The tough sons a bitches like #4 trying to get up the hill to the green.  Even #7 is a bitch of a par 3 up the hill with OB left and long.  And # 12 is no picnic either, although I usually just preferred to bounce it on from that hill on the right.

And then when you throw in all the moving obstacles driving thru the course, cars that is, its just a hoot.   

Lastly, one of the few courses where I absolutly recommend playing the short executive course.

[Tom Huckaby]

You know what else is fun about Lake Chabot?

I'm going over in my mind my personal "eclectic" score - best score ever made on each individual hole - and I think it's something like 24 under.  Conversely, I'd have to guess my person un-eclectic - worst score ever on each hole - has to be at least +36.  And this comes in a time period playing it where I was never better than a 1 hdcp, never worse than an 8.

60 shots differential is pretty darn huge.

That to me is fun.  One can score great, one can get killed.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

You know what else is fun about Lake Chabot?

I'm going over in my mind my personal "eclectic" score - best score ever made on each individual hole - and I think it's something like 24 under.  Conversely, I'd have to guess my person un-eclectic - worst score ever on each hole - has to be at least +36.  And this comes in a time period playing it where I was never better than a 1 hdcp, never worse than an 8.

60 shots differential is pretty darn huge.

That to me is fun.  One can score great, one can get killed.

TH

Pretty much all the par 5's are reachable, all the par 4s are relativly short.

But so many ways to get in big trouble out there with OB on many holes.

A very unusual routing too to keep things interesting.

Front 9 -

4,3,5,5,4,4,3,5,3

Back 9

4,4,3,4,4,4,4,3,6

[Tom Huckaby]

Yes!
And now that you list it out like that... Lake Chabot is one up on Cypress Point.

People tend to make a point there that when you leave 10, better have your score made, you play no more par fives.

Hell Lake Chabot can say that after 8.

 

[Kalen Braley]

Yes!
And now that you list it out like that... Lake Chabot is one up on Cypress Point.

People tend to make a point there that when you leave 10, better have your score made, you play no more par fives.

Hell Lake Chabot can say that after 8.

 

And if we're going to keep it going...


At CPC the 4,4,4,4 stretch from 11-14 features holes totally different from each other and the same can also be said of 13-16 at Lake Chabot...all very different holes with different requirements and views.

Man give us another couple of posts and it'll be CPC vs. Lake Chabot in a show-down galore!!  

P.S. I just may have to re-think my Tilden Park over Lake Chabot preference.

[Ian_L]

Good point, the first six holes may be easy, but at least for me I can be pretty sure I'll be making a couple mistakes on 7-18, and it puts a little pressure on me to play those first few holes well.

On the Tilden vs. Chabot debate, I'd also go with Tilden.  The walk is much less strenuous (after 1 and 2), and holes 2, 3, 6, and 9 make an interesting front nine.  I don't have as much experience on the back.  The greens at Chabot are in much better shape, granted I haven't played Tilden in over a year.


Would you agree that your score at Chabot is determined more by the first shot than most courses?  I say this because of the OB off the tee, and the relatively short approach shots given a good drive.

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